


Long Live The Queen

by ActuallyMarina



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, Hifumi is a Phangirl, Mind Games, Queen versus Queen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 03:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11394708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActuallyMarina/pseuds/ActuallyMarina
Summary: Hifumi receives a tempting offer from the Phantom Thieves. How is a queen supposed to weigh risk and reward when the odds aren’t in her favor?





	Long Live The Queen

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot thing for fun, but I overreached like nuts. Expect maybe two or three more chapters. It's gonna get gay.

**“HIFUMI TOGO, DO YOU WANT TO BE A PHANTOM THIEF?”**

Oh, no. She was getting faint.

Why didn’t she just delete it as soon as she got it? It had to be fake, right? Some kind of of phishing scheme that was simply capitalizing on the Phantom Thieves’ name. There was unofficial merchandise popping up everywhere these days, so _everyone_ was probably receiving the exact same ‘offer’.

She never should have checked her messages during class. Was this a punishment for being a bad student?

Hifumi held her phone close to her face, shoulders raised in a mixture of utter discomfort and apprehension. Like her phone might explode if her hovering finger went through with deleting the mocking invitation.

Kosei students passed by, only sparing a passing glance toward the brunette. Usually, she’d be painfully aware of any unsavory attention. Right now, she was mercifully preoccupied.

Was it a mercy? Perhaps ‘torture’ was the right word.

Instead of deleting the message, her mind continued jumping to conclusions without any regard for her poor heart rate. Maybe the Phantom Thieves knew about her because of her shogi tournaments? But then, couldn’t _anyone_ find her phone number if they looked hard enough?

Wasn’t her reputation tarnished?

Wouldn’t they care that she wasn’t the genius she pretended to be?

Weren’t they _too good_ for someone like her?

Oh, no. She was getting lightheaded again...

Hifumi leaned on the large stone gate outside of her school, pressing the heel of her hand firmly to her temple. It felt so childish to get excited over what essentially amounted to nothing. She deeply, deeply admired the Phantom Thieves. That was true, but…

Her phone vibrated impatiently. When she looked down, another message had appeared.

**“GIVE YOUR RESPONSE. WE DO NOT HAVE ALL DAY.”**

It was an oddly serious tone, considering the eccentric chat icon staring back at her. Despite the cold sweat creeping across her skin, Hifumi’s fingers moved smoothly when she typed out her response. When it mattered most, at least she could try and hold it together. Her shogi matches taught her that much about life, at least. Have a little dignity when you’ve been cornered.

_“How do I become a Phantom Thief?”_

The reply bubble emerged a moment later, as if her conversational partner was prepared with their next set of instructions. The ellipsis pulsed in time with her heartbeat. It only took a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

**“WE HAVE AN AGENT ON THE GROUND IN SHIBUYA. GO THERE NOW.”**

“Right now..?”

Hifumi felt herself repeat the request aloud, struck by the distress in her voice. So much for having dignity.

That wasn’t _nearly_ enough time to compose herself, even if she got lucky and the subway was delayed. Maybe she would get even _more_ nervous on the way over and fall to pieces in front of the person she was meant to meet.

She hesitated, chewing the inside of her cheek. Keep it together. There was no point in getting worked up just yet. No matter how much she wanted this to be real, there was no guarantee that anything would come of it. It didn’t hurt to be wary.

_“Who should I look for? Where do I meet them?”_

Another few seconds passed. The stranger’s icon shook back and forth when the new message came, and a small jingle played. It sounded like electronic laughter.

**“JUST GO. THEY WILL APPROACH YOU, MS PHONY PRINCESS.”**

That was… a surprisingly irritating response. Hifumi let out a sigh, suddenly aware that she’d been holding her breath. It didn’t seem wise to take orders from a stranger using only rudely worded uppercase letters, but her curiosity was rapidly winning out. If it was fake, she could be disappointed for the rest of the day and then move on. If it was real…

If it was real, at least she could thank the Phantom Thieves for changing her mother’s heart.

Letting out one last distressed huff, she set off. This was possibly the most naive thing she’s ever done, but she had her own sense of justice too. It would be a betrayal of all her growth over the past few months if she didn’t take initiative in her own life for once. One little meeting couldn’t hurt.

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

_“I’ve arrived in Shibuya.”_

Hifumi lifted her eyes away from her phone, urgently scanning the area outside the station. It was a largely useless gesture. She wasn’t going to miraculously spot a person that fit the visual definition of a Phantom Thief, but staying alert made her feel better. Maybe it was because she was used to unwelcome company by now. Either way, it was easier to deal with trouble if you could see it coming.

Her eyes flickered back down to the chat window. Those bouncing ellipsis were back. Her heart wasn’t racing quite as badly anymore, but the anticipation was making her antsy. It was like waiting for your opponent to make a move and only hearing the clock tick, tick, tick in the silence. Whatever they did could continue the game or pave the path to a hard fought victory. Or defeat.

She was earnestly hoping for a victory.

“Ah. You’re… Hifumi Togo, aren’t you?”

It took a moment for the voice to reach her ears. The skin on the back of her neck prickled uncomfortably as Hifumi turned around, meeting the curious gaze of someone vaguely familiar. The girl’s warm, red eyes reflected her surprise. She had a Shujin uniform on beneath a crisp-looking fall coat.

“You’re Akira-kun’s friend…” It took Hifumi a few seconds to recall where she knew this person from, but the memory slowly came back. “Niijima-san. We met at the bookstore, I think?”

The other girl smiled.

“That’s right. I found our conversation about the philosophy behind shogi strategies to be very informative. I’m surprised to see you in such a busy part of the city.” Makoto Niijima brushed her already-neat hair behind her ear, then clasped both hands politely at her waist. “Are you meeting someone? If not, I’d enjoy spending some time with you.”

Hifumi felt her stomach knot up rather suddenly. Despite knowing it was a little rude to do so, she checked her phone again.

The ellipsis were gone. No response was coming.

The possible explanations began running through her mind in an instant. One of her friend’s acquaintances would have been able to closely follow the recent events of her life with relative ease. She always wondered if the Phantom Thieves had somehow eavesdropped on her and Akira’s conversations at the church, but… could there be a simple explanation? If she was willing to be logical, there was only _one_ explanation.

Makoto Niijima was a Phantom Thief, wasn’t she?

Shujin’s Student Counsel President merely tilted her head to the side, still awaiting an answer. It was difficult to tell if she was aware of the storm raging inside Hifumi’s chest.

“Would you like to get some tea, Hifumi-san?”

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

“...So, by keeping a section of the board accessible to you, escape from even the most dire situation is still possible. Does that make sense?”

The two girls sat in a booth at the nearby diner, one of Makoto’s pristine, leather notebooks open on the table. Hifumi had drawn a shogi board on the paper, and was pointing at different pieces as she explained a complicated strategy. The pen Makoto gave her had a small panda on top of it, which was mildly distracting to wave around. It was… kind of cute.

“And by retreating, you ensure that you have the maximum amount of pieces at your disposal for future conflicts.” Makoto nodded, tapping an index finger to her cheek as her eyes thoughtfully scanned the ceiling. “I’m starting to understand why I never got the hang of playing shogi…”

“What do you mean?” Hifumi asked, finally deigning to lay the pen down. She enjoyed talking about strategies, but it was difficult to figure out if there was a purpose to their meeting. If this really was the ‘agent’ she was meant to meet up with, there were no signs of it.

“When you play most games, it makes sense to be aggressive, right? It’s easy to believe that the quickest path to victory is the correct one to take,” she explained. Makoto frowned slightly, as if she was coming up with the explanation off the top of her head. Still, she was very eloquent. “I think that’s why Akira-kun gets along with you. You learned how to be aggressive in less direct ways. It’s admirable.”

“Aggressive..?” Hifumi’s head was swimming with questions again. Was it her imagination, or did all of that sound carefully coded? When she so often viewed shogi as a metaphor for her day to day life, could she just be imagining innuendo where none existed?

And to bring up Akira once more, completely unprompted. It was clear that he’d spoken at length about his lessons to other people. He had the heart of a gambler, but it seemed as though this girl truly had a tactician’s mind.

...Did Makoto want her to be aggressive _now_?

Her mouth hung open, lips dry. If she had to endure another single faux-nonchalant moment of tea and conversation, Hifumi was worried she might actually scream. If it was the intention of the Phantom Thieves to lay down clues that needed to be put together, she already felt confident in her solution to the puzzle that was Makoto Niijima.

It all made perfect sense. The abusive teacher at Shujin being the Phantom Thieves’ first target. The image of a straight-laced, model student that could use the student counsel as a platform to uncover how corrupt adults were mistreating others. A sharp mind and serious expression that implied she had bigger plans for the tactics they discussed than simply getting better at shogi.

Of course someone like that would be the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Hifumi dragged the notebook back across the table. When she picked up the pen, it felt like picking up the final shogi piece that would secure her victory in this match. She wrote a short sentence in precise, not-too-large letters before sliding it slowly back to the opposite side of the table.

“I don’t know if I’m admirable, Niijima-san,” she admitted, carefully watching the bewilderment in the other girl’s expression. Her face was very animated for a person that clearly put such great effort into looking calm and collected. “I only try my best to emulate what I believe a truly successful commander would do in order to benefit her loyal subjects.”

Makoto picked up the notebook. Her eyes only had to sweep over the sentence once before anxiety spread over every inch of her elegant face. Brows furrowed, their eyes met once again with magnetic intensity. It was the look of an opponent that had been definitively struck down and never even saw the end coming. It looked good on her.

“I seek a greater good through the sacrifice of the pieces at my disposal. I sacrifice with purpose in the name of progress, and eventually, victory.” A smile pulled at Hifumi’s lips as Makoto laid the notebook back down on the table. It was upside down, but she could see the single phrase that had reversed her fortune.

_I know you are a Phantom Thief._

“That’s the burden that rests on a queen’s shoulders, Niijima-san.”

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

“Was that really necessary?”

Akira ran a hand through his permanently-tousled hair, unable to hide his exasperation. Futaba was snickering before, but his half-hearted disapproval only seemed to encourage her laughter. Her plans were always pretty elaborate. Maybe he was wrong for being surprised.

“Don’t be such a buzzkill! The shogi idol is your friend, right?” She scooted further back on his futon, spinning her laptop around to show him the screen. An article about Hifumi’s latest match was open, commending her dignified concession and efforts to improve her image. “You trust her, right? Right?”

“I trust Hifumi, but we could have just asked her if she wanted to help us,” he replied easily. He leaned down to get a better look at the article, but Futaba’s ten wiggling fingers blocked the screen. As if she were summoning his attention like a particularly excitable sorceror. No, that wasn't right. She’d probably prefer ‘necromancer’. “Makoto is going to be mad at you, Futaba.”

“For doing what? Having the absolute _gall_ to find her a new friend?” As per usual, her sinister smirk showed no signs of regret. “We already use her strategies, but think! How much more effective could we be if we brought the Venus of Shogi on as full-time support? I bet they’re getting along famously as we speak!”

Akira sighed, but didn’t bother protesting again. It wasn’t worth the effort. Futaba was, as always, acting in the best interest of the Phantom Thieves. A little bit of drama wasn’t the worst collateral damage they’ve dealt with.

“Okay, but you should apologize to them later.”

She flopped onto her side, feet kicking petulantly as she stretched out across his bed.

“ _What??_ No way, I don’t want to!”

“We’ll apologize together, then.”

“...Okay, _fine._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter would have been longer but I loved the scene at the end too much and wanted it to end there. Plus, things couldn't really get going until all the cards were on the table anyway.
> 
> Look forward to more at some point!
> 
> Sorry I'm writing this instead of XXII and more Akihiko/Minako like people have asked!!!! :))
> 
>  
> 
> edit, 6-30-18: I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T FINISHED THIS
> 
> I SWEAR I WILL


End file.
